This watchdog blog, by journalist Norman Oder, offers analysis, commentary, and reportage about the $4.9 billion project to build the Barclays Center arena and 16 high-rise buildings at a crucial site in Brooklyn. Dubbed Atlantic Yards by developer Forest City Ratner in 2003, it was rebranded Pacific Park in 2014 after the Chinese government-owned Greenland Group bought a 70% stake in 15 towers. New York State still calls it Atlantic Yards. Contact: AtlanticYardsReport[at]hotmail.com

The year 2012 marked a seismic shift in the Atlantic Yards saga. The conflict over the project, and lingering questions over the promises behind it, were mainly supplanted by celebration of and hype for the Barclays Center (and events within) and Brooklyn Nets.

Not only did most press coverage come from the sports and entertainment media, rather than the potentially more skeptical Metro pages, the buzz was compounded by something arena developers surely didn't imagine when Atlantic Yards was announced in 2003: social media.

Fractional team/arena owner Jay-Z--far more important than developer Bruce Ratner could've imagined--generated huge headlines and social media impact with his eight straight concerts, purported design of the Nets' black-and-white logo, and even a viral encounter with a lady on the subway. He even made the cover of the New York Times T Magazine supplement, interviewed by a genuflecting Zadie Smith.

Meanwhile, there was much paid media, with the Brooklyn Nets producing a skein of sponsorships and saturation advertising. Nets' merchandise flew off the shelves Even if it remains unclear exactly how much of "Brooklyn" has embraced the team, "Brooklyn" remains a potent signifier.

For Forest City Ratner, there was a value to the project delays. With no flagship tower looming at the intersection of Atlantic and Flatbush avenues, the arena and project make a more modest impact, and the temporary plaza seems public, the temporary oculus--with its digital signage--already iconic to some.

The new subway entrance

The enormously valuable new transit entrance is public, not buried within an Urban Room attached to a giant office tower. And the Atlantic Avenue/Pacific Street subway hub was not co-named with the name Barclays but rather saw Barclays Center replace Pacific Street.

Meanwhile, the march of other towers to the north on Flatbush Avenue has softened the impact of the planned Atlantic Yards towers, at least on arena block.

But no one's reckoned with the project as a whole; such renderings don't exist. (Remember planner Ron Shiffman's 2006 warning, “The density proposed by Forest City Ratner far exceeds the carrying capacity of the area’s physical, social, cultural, and educational infrastructure.")

Is AY done?

Atlantic Yards may seem done, as the controversy has mostly subsided, but it's not; the cumulative impacts of the entire project--not just the arena--are what alarmed people and, indeed, the lingering court case reminds us that there are 16 towers to be built.

The larger issues--the taint over the arena process--have been nudged aside by most though not forgotten. There were still protests.

And even the New York Times, which displayed notably variable coverage, cited that Bruce Ratner's " reputation for promising anything to get a deal, only to renegotiate relentlessly for more favorable terms."

But even legitimate stories have been mostly ignored by the media: court decisions ordering the state to perform a Supplementary Environmental Impact Statement on the impact of a potential 25-year buildout; the demise of Community Benefits Agreement signatory BUILD, the failure to provide the promised 2,000 $15 tickets before each game. (Forget complicated stuff like the funding from immigrant investors.)

Could it hurt to have the Daily News as your partner on the plaza? Do media outlets depend too much on Barclays ads? Or is it just media fatigue?

Atlantic Yards, I wrote last year, "will be a case study in public relations." Developer Bruce Ratner this year claimed that, in 100 years, "No one will care what we had to do to make it happen." (Maybe, but for now, and we'll remember.)

Making their luck

Though arena developers--Forest City Ratner, with Mikhail Prokhorov's Onexim Group--spent big money on advertising and promotion, they did several things right, enough to ensure that most coverage--from a press generally willing to be spoon-fed--focused on the positive:

they hired SHoP to put that lizard skin on (and revamp) an Indiana barn of an arena (and none of the enthralled architecture critics mention the missing office building)

they hired locally and trained workers to be pleasant (though most jobs pay low, part-time wages)

they involved Brooklyn food vendors (though under the corporate umbrella of Levy restaurants, and at high prices)

they got it all open in time (though without the promised community events pre-opening)

they gave away tickets to local nonprofits (though the promise of 2,000 $15 tickets was something of a dodge, and there have been no community events)

big-name concerts were a huge success (even if promised monthly boxing turned into quarterly, at best)

Beyond that, Forest City announced an innovation in modular construction (thus avoiding questions about too little affordable housing and cuts in worker compensation if not hours).

SHoP, the hot local architecture firm hired has turned out to be a much better fit, after all, than Frank Gehry. The latter's fame may have been necessary to get Forest City support and publicity, but Gehry had the unfortunate habit of shooting off his mouth, cracking that protestors "should've been picketing Henry Ford" and calling Bruce Ratner "do-gooder, liberal," just like him. SHoP principals have been good, creative soldiers, fulling that $54 million investment (the new facade), made, as Forest City would say, "for public reasons."

Navigating the tight fit

Banners that came and went in Prospect Heights

There were big media bounces from headliners like Barbra Streisand, the Rolling Stones, Justin Beiber, and Andrea Bocelli--most but not all unlikely to play Barclays regularly. (Bieber will be back, as will Jay-Z).

Perhaps the biggest fear--Carmageddon from traffic jams--has been averted, thanks to use of transit and a heavy police presence, neither of which Forest City will pay for.

"Brooklyn will become a chant," promised the Nets' advertising and, indeed, it did, bolstered by a surprisingly good team anthem (but not by a cartoonish mascot). "September is just the beginning," promised another ad.

The Nets have been bolstered by two flattering tv/web series, The Association (from NBA TV) and Road to Brooklyn (from Jay-Z's Life+Times channel). Team owners have done their best to make a connection with the Dodgers.

Despite bad luck in the draft and free agency, the Nets achieved a rapid roster revamp, with Mikhail Prokhorov opening his wallet to (over)pay for Joe Johnson and re-sign Deron Williams. In November, that looked golden, as the Nets streaked to victory. In December, the team floundered, leading to the firing of the coach.

And there was more. Indeed, in October came the surprising news that the New York Islanders, mired in an antiquated arena on Long Island, would move to Brooklyn in 2015, if not sooner, and move to an arena distinctly made for hoops, not hockey--but able to take advantage of public transit and a lucrative TV contract.

Changing accountability landscape

Despite a significant moral victory in court, and a couple of protests, project opponents and critics generally diminished their activity. Though Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn and BrooklynSpeaks (and its component groups) were joined by others in the protests, the single busiest initiative, understandably, was Atlantic Yards Watch, tracking the impacts of the project.

The valuable compendium No Land Grab ceased regular publication after the arena opened, and a New York Times article chronicled those "exhausted" by losing the battle--but failed to point out the community victory in court and the ongoing need for oversight and skepticism.

“There’s nothing I want more than not to be involved,” Peter Krashes, active in AY Watch, told the Times. "The problem is, only when paid professionals working in the public interest are doing their jobs do I get to go away.”

Council Member Letitia James and state Senator Velmanette Montgomery appeared at protests. Council Member Steve Levin convened meetings about arena impacts. While the project may have a role in local politics--even State Senator Eric Adams and Assemblyman (now Congressman-elect) Hakeem Jeffries held a protests about delayed benefits-- the arena has an unmistakable gravitational pull.

There were more Brooklyn elected officials at the arena ribbon-cutting than at the 2010 groundbreaking, and a few different ones at the groundbreaking for the first tower, B2. And critics and opponents have been placed in the somewhat awkward position--which should be occupied by Ratner's allies--of pointing out the failure to produce promised jobs and housing.

January

Company fabricating arena's metal facade shuts down. Arena completion date nudged back; site work could continue almost to opening.

Investor buys building scheduled for second round of Atlantic Yards eminent domain, suggesting condemnation won't be coming soon. Six-story building planned at Bergen Tile site across from arena at Flatbush and Dean.

In City Limits package on Atlantic Yards, Bertha Lewis is said to claim "that that some who opposed the Community Benefits Agreement privately lambasted the idea of having a 'high-rise ghetto.'"

Testimony in the Yonkers corruptiontrialsuggests that Forest City Ratner had behaved in a questionable manner, offering political fixer Zehy Jereis a no-show job, with little checking up on him, after he got Council Member Sandy Annabi to change her vote. Forest City sure wasn't bilked.

The dailies mostly ignore the trial; even Crain's columnist Greg David notices. In Times article, Forest City flack gets to defend against unidentified "critics."

Final TDM plan, delayed again, has a few tweaks; no Dean Street entrance to parking.Audacious timing: two important docs released after comment period. Transportation plan Q&A: no remedies if performance goals not met, sidewalks still OK, no measures to directly address on-street parking, etc. No response to question about lessons from Wrigley.

Times touts arena food. Yormark says Brooklyn story was "took good not to be told" and "moment's even bigger than I expected." Capital NY's McGeveran calls "beautiful structure" Ratner's "apology to Brooklyn."

Times takes balanced-ish look at "Hurricane Barclays." Times suggests activist Goldstein's just like Ratner, though the former's expansion is as-of-right. Softball Times Q&A with Forest City's Gilmartin.

Islanders moving to Barclays Center by 2015. No impact on AY housing. Does move vindicate AY, or just the arena (and should NYC/NYS have driven a harder bargain)? For Islanders, key is revenue from luxury suites, premium seats, and TV.

Markowitz admits Atlantic Yards is "among the most contentious developments in America's history."